by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 04, 2008   Last Updated: July 25, 2008

The original "rainy day song" was probably Gordon Lightfoot's "In The Early Morning Rain" in 1966. It captured the real sadness of being "a long way from home," missing the ones you love while being unable to afford the price of a ticket home. In 1975 Lightfoot followed it up with another classic rainy day song - "Rainy Day People." He sings it slow, lending his gravelly voice to a simple acoustic accompaniment, this time describing how welcome friends can be on a blue rainy day.

There's a lot of classic rock songs that make good rainy day songs. John Fogerty's voice sings an unusually sad tune in "Who'll Stop the Rain" by Credence Clearwater Revival, while "glam rockers" Supertramp offered their own take on gloom in "It's Raining Again." Someone once suggested that the perfect 80s song for a rainy day would be Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," offering sweet reassurance to "You, with the sad heart..."

Even if you hate Alanis Morissette, there's still something cathartic about the soft-loud-soft format of her 1996 song "Ironic." It starts with a soft acoustic guitar, then builds to its chorus about "rain on your wedding day." And just about anything by Aimee Mann will complement a sad, blue feeling. The song "I've Had It" looks back on her early days as a musician, and then reaches a world-weary conclusion in its chorus. "Experience is cheap, if that's the company you keep..." But even her first songs with the band 'Til Tuesday had a bittersweet recognition that some days are just plain sad. The last song on the album "Welcome Home" said a lot with just its title: "No One Is Watching You Now." But one song rallied to a moment of hope buried under all that isolation. On "Welcome Home," Mann recalls a deserted farmhouse where she carved her name into a wall with her boyfriend, remembering that "Everything I could've said I felt somehow that you already knew."

Everyone has their favorites, but it proves that even after decades of popular music, the sad rainy day music will always find an audience. In 2002 Lambchop released an amazing song called "Autumn's Vicar" on their album "Is a Woman." The slow piano in the background and strumming guitar leads through a mellow reflection about autumn squirrels, neighbors, and the realization that you're older.

Life goes on - and the rainy day songs keep coming.

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